Midnight
by Mr.Miyagi
Summary: How far is too far?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Rocket Power, just Del.

It was past midnight and Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez were gone on vacation. Upstairs Twister had fallen asleep and downstairs Lars was talking to his new "friends"

He'd become especially good at his drug dealings and it was time for a commission. Part of which included a nice stash of hard core drugs set aside for employers, or snuck out by them.

Twister didn't really understand what had been going on with Lars lately, but most nights he ended up crashing at the Rockets, too scared to go home. Sure his brother had always bullied him, but now Lars had taken it to a whole other level.

Lars' friends were leaving now and someone came running down the stairs.

"You'd better not be rippin' me off, Del." Lars joked

"Naw, just having a little fun." A devious smile came to play on Del's lips.

Acting on a hunch Lars ran upstairs to Twister's room.

Twister shivered under his blanket and on his face was a myriad of cuts and bruises. As Lars threw the blanket off he realized the injuries covered Twister's whole body, which was stripped bare. His peenus was inflamed. On the floor Lars found remnants of a drug he immediately recognized and realized Twister must've been druged so that he wouldn't be able to scream or fight back. He probably didn't even know who his attacker was, but Lars did.

Running into his room to get something Lars dashed outside. Sure, Lars had been going too far and _really_ beating Twister just for the heck of it, and he'd threatened to kill him on several occasions if he ever told anyone. But Twister was _his _little brother. He could do whatever he wanted with him! No one gave Del that right.

Finally Lars was able to see Del just a little ways ahead. Without hesitation he raised his gun…


	2. confusion

Disclaimer: I don't own Rocket Power, only Del.

Lars had managed to get in the house and stash his gun before anyone saw him and the police were doing an investigation.

Twister was currently sitting in his room after his millionth shower and watching the tape from their 'mondo mountain' adventure.

"Just because it's more fun to be mean to him than it is to be nice doesn't mean I don't care about him."

The Lars on the screen said again and Twister bit his lower lip.

That was right, even though they didn't get along Lars still cared about him, right? What other reason could he have for shooting Del? Then why had Lars been acting the way he was? Twister suddenly grabbed at his chest and squeezed. It had been hurting there a lot lately.

_"Why?"_ Twister wondered _"Why does it hurt so much? It hurt when Del..."_ Twister couldn't finish that thought_, "And it always hurts when Lars..."_ Again he couldn't bring himself to finish his thought._ "The hurting stops eventually, but I still keep feeling this pain."_ Tears stung Twister's eyes _"It never goes away, it's getting worse. I just want it to stop. Please somebody, anybody, please make it go away. Make it stop!"_

Then Twister saw the time and realized that he was late for hockey practice. He quickly turned off the tape and rushed out the door.

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"Dude, where were you?" Otto demanded, none too thrilled

"Are you okay, Twist? That gunshot was pretty close to your house." Reggie gave him a look of concern

It wasn't just the gunshot. Something had been different about him for awhile. Twister still acted the same and did the same things, but still there was this feeling around him like something was off.

"I'm fine." Twister assured her

"_That's a lie. Please notice I'm lying_."

Of course, no matter how much Twister wanted someone to figure it out there was always just as big a part of him that didn't trust anyone to be able to help.

Reggie just nodded and they went on to play their game.

99999999999

The police were questioning everyone to see if somebody knew about what had happened. Finally they got to Twister

"_If I tell them Lars will kill me ( I hope that doesn't turn out to be literal) No, Lars wouldn't go that far with me. Would he? No, of course not! Still, if I tell... Wait, Lars won't be able to hurt me from jail. Then the pain will go away, right? It's his fault I feel this way. Alright, I'm going to tell._" Twister decided firmly

"Did you see anything, Twister?" Officer Shirley questioned

Now was his big chance

"No, nothing." Twister blurted out before he could stop himself

"_Dang it! Why didn't I just tell her_?" He mentally berated himself

Like Reggie officer Shirley looked suspicious for a moment.

"_Don't ask. Just believe me and go._" Twister silently begged

Officer Shirley nodded and left. Twister couldn't help feeling disappointed.

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"I saw you talking to the police." Lars stated to Twister with the slightest hint of a threat in his voice

"I didn't tell them anything." Twister assured him

and Lars looked relieved

"Good job, bro." Lars smiled

"_Good job_?" The words repeated themselves in Twister's head

He couldn't remember Lars saying that to him before. He felt happier, yet somehow at the same time worse.

"What?" Lars looked at him annoyed

and Twister realized that he'd been staring

"Nothing." Twister shook his head and ran away in case his brother decided to use him as target practice for his fists again.


	3. discovered

Disclaimer: I don't own Rocket Power

Twister sat under the pier and hugged his legs to his chest. His stomach still ached from where Lars had kicked it hard.

"_I'll only be a minute. I've got to prove to him that I'm not a 'whinny little wuss'_." Twister thought darkly, still mad at Lars

"Twister?"

Twister looked up to see Reggie.

"Oh, hey Reggie." Twister smiled

"_Shoot! Why'd she have to find me now of all times_." Although a secret part of Twister was kind of grateful for the company

Reggie looked concerned as she sat down.

"Are you okay?"

"Reggie, you already asked me that. I'm fine." Twister whined and rolled his eyes.

But the last two words sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than her. She was unconvinced.

"Really, just same old same old." Twister insisted

"Has Lars been whomping you again?" Reggie placed her hands on her hips and fixed him with a scrutinizing gaze

Twister had to remind himself that Reggie had no idea what that entailed nowadays.

"When hasn't he?" Twister smiled nervously

Reggie noticed the pause and the awkward way Twister had answered

"_So, whatever's wrong has something to do with Lars_."

Then Reggie noticed the way Twister was clutching his stomach. She frowned. Now that she thought about it Twister had been having a lot of skating accidents lately. All of them conveniently when none of them were around. Plus the fact that he never seemed to want to go home.

Reggie could've slapped herself for not seeing it sooner. Twister was her friend and she hadn't even noticed.

"Twister," Reggie began slowly, carefully "Does Lars...hit you?"

Twister practically jumped

"O-of course n-not." Twister stuttered

After viewing Twister's reaction Reggie was certain of it. Reggie's first response would normally be to scold Twister for not saying anything. Instead she sighed and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Twister, you need to report this. If you don't I will." she told him gently, yet firmly

"No, don't! You can't tell anyone!" Twister said a little too quickly, then suddenly realized what he'd said

But it was too late. Reggie felt disappointed that she'd been right.

"What he's doing is wrong. How can he even justify it?"

"He's my big brother-"

"That doesn't make it right!" Reggie interrupted, clearly angry "Now come on. We're reporting him." She grabbed Twister's hand in her strong grip and started pulling him along, practically dislocating his shoulder as she did so.

"Reggie, stop. Please. H-he said he'd kill me if I told."

Reggie stopped, frozen in her tracks. She felt completely horrified.

"He threatened you like that." It wasn't a question. Reggie hadn't even bothered to turn around.

"Lars has already done it before." Twister admitted. He felt guilty for telling her, yet relieved that he was finally able to say something

Reggie instantly spun back around.

"**Wha**-"

Twister quickly covered Reggie's mouth so the whole beach wouldn't hear her

"That was him?" She asked in a quieter tone after Twister removed his hand

"Lars was just trying to protect me. Del had been at our house that night and he came into my room." Twister was stopped by an involuntary shiver

"Twister." Reggie said in a voice barely above a whisper as tears began to run down her face

She squeezed him in a death grip. She could feel his breath in her ear as he spoke, or rather, begged.

"Please, Reggie. He's my big brother. Please don't tell."

Reggie bit her bottom lip, trying to decide what to do next.


	4. descision

Disclaimer: I don't own Rocket Power

Reggie hadn't had a chance to say anything to Twister after he'd run off, but she'd made up her mind anyways and nothing was going to change it.

9999999999

Twister was knocked down, hitting his head against the wall. He was definitely going to have a bruise there.

"You idiot! You told someone, didn't you?" Lars growled as he slammed his foot against Twister's ribcage.

Twister coughed a bit

"No, I swear I didn't, Lars." Twister insisted again

Lars looked ironically amused

"Do you have any idea how easy it is for me to tell when you're lying? Now tell me the truth, little brother." Lars's voice was calm enough, yet with a definite threatening undertone.

Twister turned his gaze away only to have Lars grab his chin and force him to look at the elder sibling.

"Well, who was it?" Lars waited expectantly

"I didn't tell anyone." Twister repeated in a lighter, yet firmer tone

Lars waited for a moment before releasing Twister.

"You had better not be lying to me."

Twister nodded and scrambled off to his own room.

Lars sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he watched the younger go. Then looked around frowning. Lars was going to have to hurry if he was going to get the area cleaned up before their parents got home and saw it. In Lars's mind it was nice of him to give Twister a break by not just making him do it.

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Reggie took a deep breath. There was no turning back now.


	5. kidnapped

Disclaimer: I don't own Rocket Power

Twister felt someone shaking him and he moaned groggily opening one eye until Lars bluringly came into focus.

"L-Lars." Twister spoke as well as he could in his tired state.

Lars quickly shushed him.

"Get up." he commanded in an incredibly low voice.

"What...?"

"You heard me Twister. Stay quiet and come with me." Lars spoke in a dangerous tone that Twister had learned the hard way to listen to

So he got off his bed as quietly as he could and followed Lars down the hall and out the back door. Then stopped when he noticed his older sibling walk over to his car and open up the door on the passenger side. Twister hesitated to climb in and Lars grew agitated.

"Hurry up and get."

But Twister had the sinking feeling that he really shouldn't get in the car and unconsciously took a step back. Lars became more impatient with the disobedience.

"Do as your big brother tells you, Twister."

Twister took another step back and Lars grabbed onto his wrist, then threw him roughly into the car causing Twister to yelp in surprise, and locked the door before getting in himself. The surprise turned to pain and Twister had to bite his bottom lip hard to keep from screaming as they drove off.

"Remind me to punish you later for being so difficult. Like making noise after I told you not to." Lars muttered

They drove in silence for awhile before Lars finally noticed Twister was still cradling his wrist. He pulled over to the side of the road and took his younger sibling's wrist in a not too hard, but not gentle, grip to inspect.

"Yeah, it's definitely a break or a fracture or something like that." Lars concluded "Hold on a sec."

Lars began to search around in his glove compartment for his first aid kit. He had to dig a little to get it out from under all the excess drugs he'd stashed in his car.

When Lars at last managed to pull out the first aid kit he took out a sling and helped Twister put it on.

"Thanks." Twister muttered as they drove off again just in case his older sibling got offended by not being thanked.

Twister stared out the side window where everything was still dark, yet starting to get a little bit brighter. Twister couldn't help it. As he continued to look out the window he fell into a deep sleep where he was no longer aware of the world around him. Which at this point he had no complaints against.

99999999999

"W-what?" Reggie stared wide eyed not wanting to believe what she'd just heard

"Lars dissapeared some time last night right before we came to bring him down to the station. Apparently he took Twister with him." Officer Shirley patiently explained again.

Reggie instantly became horrified. What if Lars had left because he'd somehow found out about the police coming for him? What if he knew that it was happening because Twister had let his guard down and told?

_"He said he'd kill me if I told."_

Twister's words echoed all too perfectly in Reggie's head. She didn't want to think Lars would go that far, but if there was even the slightest chance the threat had been real like she feared they couldn't risk it.

"Any idea where they are?" Reggie asked nervously

Officer Shirley shook her head.

"Not yet. But don't worry, we'll find them." Officer Shirley tried to reassure Reggie, yet the note of uncertainty in her voice she couldn't quite cover up just put Reggie on edge more.

"We _will_ find them." Officer Shirley said in a much firmer tone to help convince the young girl as well as herself.

The Rodriguezs' just sat at the table too busy bawling their eyes out over the news to even be aware of the situation. It was all still so unreal to them. Too difficult a concept to grasp. It's not like they didn't know situations like theirs happened, they had just never considered the possibility that it could happen in their family.

Reggie silently prayed her friend would be alright.

99999999

Twister felt something beneath him that didn't feel like a car seat. He opened his eyes and sat up to glance around at the small motel room. He felt something cold digging into his ankle and looked down to see a metal cuff over it. He followed the chain attached to it only to find it was locked onto the bottom leg of the bed.

"Just a precaution to make sure you don't get any funny ideas about leaving." Lars explained, patting Twister on the head

Twister groaned and Lars seemed amused by the response. Soon enough he left Twister alone to go do who knew what and the younger Rodriguez grabbed the remote from off the side table, turning on the T.V. For a minute he thought about trying to call someone on the phone for help only to notice that Lars had cut the cord making that impossible. Twister was chained up and trapped with no visible way out.


End file.
